14 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



of values is gradually rising to a poiflt where those concerns which 

 refuse to release stocks at less than actual worth can successfully 

 bid. 



As indicated by the sales at the furniture shows, there is going to 

 be about the same quantity of oak in demand for this purpose during 

 the coming season as in the past. Breaking away from the highly 

 polished oak furniture has done a great deal to make this wood more 

 desirable, but it is nevertheless a fact that the active effort to 

 increase the market for other domestic and foreign cabinet woods 

 has had a noticeable effect upon the call for oak. As indicated by 

 the result of the shows, American walnut is going to be one of the 

 most active woods during the coming six months. Many new lines 

 in walnut were shown and seemingly took very well with the buyers. 

 This has seemingly opened up a new avenue of sale for the gum 

 people as gum makes an excellent imitation of walnut furniture in 

 cheaper lines. Also, there seems to be an increasing amount of gum 

 offered finished in its own color in the cheaper exhibits, and as a 

 general thing these had fairly satisfactory sales. There seemingly 

 is no jiarticular change in the attitude of buyers toward northern 

 woods as these woods have established a permanent place for them- 

 selves, both in furniture in the natural state and in imitation of 

 other woods. 



The Cover Picture 



THE TAP LINE EAILEOAD has become an important aid to 

 the lumber business. The Interstate Commerce Commission has 

 had before it for a long time the problem of assigning the tap line 

 its proper place in the country's carrying, business; and it has been 

 decided that when such a railroad carries freight on equal terms for 

 all applicants, it becomes a common carrier and is entitled, under 

 certain conditions, to pro rata pay when it performs part of the serv- 

 ice on a long haul. Many such railroads are feeders of sawmills, 

 hauling the logs to the miUs and hauling the lumber away. Mills 

 which are not located on or near trunk lines must have some such 

 arrangement or they cannot carry on business. The cover picture 

 illustrating this issue of Hardwood Eecokd conveys a good idea of 

 such a road engaged in the work for which it was built. 



Tlie transportation of sawlogs has gotten away from the rivers, to 

 a large extent. Formerly most large operations depended upon rivers 

 or other floatable streams to take the logs from forest to market. In 

 many instances no other method was thought of. The river's current 

 was a cheap means of transportation when all went well; but there 

 were uncertainties which called for serious consideration. Unless 

 the stream were one of considerable size, it would carry logs in time 

 of flood only, and sometimes floods were far apart. The stranding 

 of logs along the banks and upon bars and islands, delayed the logs 

 on their downward journey by months and sometimes years. Loss of 

 time was not the only loss. Decay was liable to attack the sapwood 

 of logs of certain kinds. Large drives of yellow poplar logs some- 

 times left the dumps near the sources of rivers with sapwood fresh 

 and bright, but when they arrived many months later at their des- 

 tinations, the sap was stained or soft or wholly gone. That caused 

 a heavy loss, for the " poplar saps ' ' were not in evidence when such 

 logs were converted into lumber. What was true of yellow poplar 

 was, in a measure, true of all other woods which floated to market 

 down long and rugged water courses. 



The gradual decline of log driving on streams has been due to 

 two chief causes: Timber contiguous to such water courses has been 

 largely logged out; while the steam road has been found more 

 satisfactory and often cheaper in the long run. One or two days 

 after the tree is felled in the woods the logs may be unloaded from 

 the cars at the mills, fifty or a hundred miles away. By converting 

 them into lumber immediately, the boards are bright and fresh and 

 they grade high. 



Steam log roads are not confined to any particular region. They 

 are found wherever logging operations of large size are carried on. 

 The massive California redwood, the giant Douglas fir of Washington, 

 the yellow pine of the South, the spruce of West Virginia, maple 

 and white pine of Michigan, all go to the mills upon the tracks of 

 logging roads. The mule team and the yoke of oxen have not wholly 



lost their places in the woods, but they are now usually engaged in 

 ' ' swamping out ' ' the logs and delivering them at the skidways ready 

 for the steam trucks. But even the mules and oxen are not secure 

 of their jobs as swampers along the tote roads, for the steam skid- 

 ders, with their miles of cables, are increasing their activities in the 

 vicinity of the logging camps. 



Trade Opportunities 



TRADE TENDENCIES whicli lead toward the United States in- 

 crease. The commerce reports which are published daily at 

 Washington, D. C, by the Department of Commerce, containing in- 

 formation concerning business matters in all parts of the world, have 

 long followed the custom of giving more, or less space to a list of 

 ' ' foreign trade opportunities. " It is significant that the lists of 

 such ojiportunities have greatly increased of late. Such increase 

 is apparent not only in number, but also in geographical range. 

 Formerly a page or less of the daily report was suflicient to take 

 care of all inquiries from foreign countries. Recently that space has 

 been more than doubled; and some of the inquiries now come from 

 remote or obscure parts of the world, which formerly were never 

 lieard from in that way. 



The cause of this should be sought in the profound breaking up of 

 former markets and lines of trade. Purchasers who formerly were 

 supplied from Europe and who never looked elsewhere, cannot now 

 make their purchases there, and they are turning to the United 

 States. Consuls in many parts of the world are forwarding these 

 inquiries to this country and they are classified and published from 

 daj' to day. 



They include numerous articles that are wanted in foreign markets. 

 Among those called for in the latest list, which is a fair sample of 

 other lists from day to day, were: Army supplies, glass, brass rods, 

 copper shells, print paper, drugs, railway ties, cylinder saws, dress 

 cloth, cotton goods, electrical supplies, sugar machinery, hosiery, 

 creosote, copper, vitriol, beans, rubber goods, flour, general hardware, 

 chemical products, shoes, spuce and cedar oil, and machine tools. 

 The list might be extended almost indefinitely. 



The importance of such lists lies in the fact that they show the 

 extent and tendency of trade changes going on. Wliat other nations 

 are losing, this country is gaining. The opportunity is at hand, and 

 if Americans grasp it, as undoubtedly they will, the world 's markets 

 will open to our products as they never did in the past. 



Fashions in Furniture 



No WOOD-USING INDUSTRY is more susceptible to the 

 influences of changes of fashion than is the manufacture of 

 furniture. It quickly responds to tendencies before they have any 

 perceptible effect on other industries. The annual furniture shows 

 afford means of studying changes, both while coming and going. 

 The makers try out new ideas, and if they meet popular approval, 

 the fashion is established, and runs its course. This holds true for 

 finish of woods as well as in the designs of the articles; while certain 

 woods come in, hold their place for a time, and go out when they 

 have run their course, and have had their day. 



The January furniture shows in Grand Rapids and Chicago told 

 the same story. Circassian walnut, which has not yet taken its de- 

 parture appears to be slated for that journey. Perhaps it is not 

 fair to attribute that to fashion, since it is due to cutting off of sup- 

 plies on accoimt of war. The tendency seems to point to the revival 

 of black walnut, partly as a substitute for the imported wood, and 

 partly on its own account. Black walnut was coming back before 

 the high-class wood from Turkey and Russia was stopped by hostil- 

 ities. The briglit colors in oak appear to be giving way to duller 

 finishes; but the. wood itself, to judge by the showing it makes at 

 the expositions, is in no danger of losing any ground. Gum is still 

 at the height of fashion and popularity in this country, notwith- 

 standing certain of the foreign markets are said to have lost some 

 interest in it. Those markets, however, have lost interest because 

 of war's excitement; and doubtless gum will assume its former 

 place abroad as soon as the soldiers finish their jobs and return 

 home. 



